IRIS - ISO 22163: Right on track for safety and quality
The railway industry is undergoing major changes because of the liberalisation of operating companies. And it is very clear that the requirements placed on you, as a company within the railway sector, have become stricter. Competition is becoming tougher in the rolling stock industry, and so you have to provide proof of the safety and quality of your products and processes.
IRIS Certification® is based on ISO 22163 and on IRIS Certification® Performance Assessment. With certification according to ISO 22163 you show clearly to the outside world that your company is well able to meet the quality demands within the industry. IRIS offers standardised quality management requirements and assessment guidelines and also standardised audits. This should make it easier to judge and compare suppliers.
The guiding purpose of the standard is to make quality transparent and to improve it along the entire supply chain.
What are the benefits of IRIS - ISO 22163 certification?
- Certified proof of fulfilment of rolling stock industry requirements
- Raised quality standards in the organisation and the whole supply chain
- Improved market position
- Higher profile and increased competitiveness
- Improved position when tendering
- Can be combined with other QM system standards, to save time and cost
- Inclusion in the IRIS database, the supplier database of UNIFE, the Association of the European Rail Supply Industry, which contains detailed information regarding the certification results of all certified organisations and which is used by many companies within the railway industry.
Structure of IRIS - ISO 22163 Certification
The IRIS certification structure has been revised in 2023. The new revision IRIS Certification® Rev.03 will be applicable from 2024, April 1st.
The IRIS certification system “IRIS Certification® Rev.04“ has three components as similar with Rev.3:
- ISO 22163:2023, consisting of the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 and the specific requirements of the rail industry
- IRIS Certification® Performance Assessment:2023 and
- IRIS Certification® Technology (audit tool, portal and database)
IRIS certified companies can be awarded with three types of Quality Performance Levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold) based of their performances.
Climate Change Considerations to Management System Standards
On 22 February 2022, the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) IAF published a joint communiqué to highlight the addition of climate change considerations to a number of existing ISO management system standards (MSS).
Clauses 4.1 and 4.2 of the MSS are affected. This is to ensure that climate change issues are considered by the organization in the context of the effectiveness of the management system in addition to all other aspects.
FAQs
The owner of ISO 22163:2023 standard is ISO. It contains the requirements of the ISO 9001:2015 standard and the supplemental rail-specific requirements.
The owner of IRIS Certification® Performance Assessment:2023 is UNIFE (Union des Industries Ferroviaires Européennes). These certification rules contain all the relevant rules relating to assessment methodology and to the certification process.
You will achieve your IRIS Certification® certificate with us through the following steps:
1) Preparation for certification in an informative meeting by phone or in person, and also by means of a pre-audit.
2) Rediness review and certification audit at your site. The last day of the certification audit will always be the referance date for the following audits.
3) Documentation of the audit and assessment of the findings and the management system with the “IRIS Audit Tool“ software.
4) Following successful certification, you will receive a certificate registered at UNIFE from TÜV NORD CERT with a validity of three years, and you will be entered into the UNIFE supplier database (“IRIS database”).
5) Surveillance audits take place annually but latest one month before the reference date in order to ensure that you continue to fulfil the requirements of the standard.
6) Recertification audit takes place latest one month before the reference date. The renewed IRIS certificate will be issued before expiry of the current IRIS certificate.
7) Quality Performance Levels (Bronz, Silver, Gold) will be awarded by IRIS Management Center according to defined criteria in IRIS Certification® Performance Assessment.
The rail-specific standard for quality management system is applicable for companies having activities on design and development and/or production and service provision and/or purchasing of products, prozesses and services (EPPPS) as well as project management and requirements management in the rail industry. Related business catagories for the railway sector are rolling stock, signaling, infrastructure, maintenance, distributors, turnkey as well as testing and tools.
IRIS stands for International Railway Industry Standard, and ISO 22163 was created from this standard.
What TÜV NORD can offer you
TÜV NORD is a reliable internationally recognised partner for inspection, testing and certification services. Our specialists and auditors have in-depth knowledge based on experience in the rolling stock industry and will support you within the certification process with objective feedback. With IRIS certification according to ISO 22163 from TÜV NORD you can achieve efficient quality management – and gain the trust of your customers.